Conveying apparatus.



c. s WILLIAMSON. CONVEYING APPARATUS.

APFLICAUON FiLEB DEC.I|1915.

392i 3,3@2536 Patented Jan. 23, 1917 2 SHEETS-SHEET l.

CHARLES S. WILLIAMSON, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

' CONVEYING APPARATUS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

?atented Jan. 23, ww.'

Application led December 1, 1315. v Serial No. 64,591.

To all whom it may conce. /L Be it known that I, CHARLES S. WILLIAM- soN, a citizen of theUnited States, residing` at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Conveying Apparatus, otwhich the following is the specilication.

This invention'relates to propelling devices for conveying apparatus and particularly to a method ot arrangement and construction of the driving mechanism for the trucks or wheels upon which the legs ot a bridge or crane for conveying coal or the like, are supported. Bridges tor conveying coal, ore or the like, as is well known, are huge structures, often bridging a' great width of property as well as many full gage railroad tracks, and are supported uponlegs, which in turn are either supported directly upon the axles of the propelling wheels or upon trucks carrying a number of wheels. Great ditiiculty has been experienced heretofore in the operation ot' such an apparatus owing to thetact that no certain or positive control of the propulsion has heretofore been possible. The supporting trucks or wheels'at the opposite ends of the bridges are spaced a great distance apart and the bridge itself as ordinarily constructed is designed so that one end may be moved in advance of the other to a small extent and therefore. is not capable of withstanding any considerable skewin'g force so that a comparatively small force which tends to roll one end of the. structure along the track and out of exact alinement of the other endcan ldo nso. A large number ot such bridges have been and continually are being wrecked because wind pressure upon one end of the bridge is generally diiierent from that uponthe other end, and the unequal pressure willk roll one end ot the bridge along the track, skewing the entire structure beyond the intended limits and thereby racking or wreckingit. Furthermore, propelling s vstems for bridges ot this character as heretofore made. generally comprise long trains 'ot gearing or shafting, taking up a great deal of room and involving considerable expense in first cost and lip-keep, introducing inevitable lostV motion between the meshing gear teeth along the gear trains and worst of all, permitting one end ot the bridge to overhaul or, under the influence of unequal pressure at the two ends ot the bridge, such as wind pressure, etc., to drive the .gearing which isl provided to drive each end of the bridge With the result that the bridge skews as above explained. y

It is a primary object of this invention to do away with any possibility of overhauling the propelling gearing for the' trucks or Wheels upon which any leg ot the apparatus is supported by, making use of a low pitched worm drive therefor.

It is another object of the invention to eliminate a large amount ot' gearing heretofore used` which `as explained, is expensive to construct and operate and introduces inevitable lost motion, with the greater possibility of serious damage troni breakage.`

lt is a `further object ot the invent-ion to compact and simplify the gearing by Ithe selection and arrangement ot its parts, whereby little or no special accommodation is made necessaryy across the tracks to provide room for the gearing which turns the wheels supporting the legs ot the bridge.

It is a still further and important object ot this invention to attach the prime mover of my propelling system so as to cut the torque upon the main shaft thereof in halt, and making it possible not only to use a lighter shaft, but largely eliminating the heretofore always present danger that the driving gear for one or other leg of the bridge would fail at a critical moment, as when the bridge was being propelled against or was resisting a yery heavy wind, with the consequent and often disastrous skewing of the entire structure.

Other objects a'nd advantages ot the invention in question will appear as description to follow proceeds.

In the drawings: Figure il an elevation, partly broken away, of a truck used to support one leg ot a bridge and provided with special driving mechanism thereupon. Fig. f2 is an end view ol" the same. Fig. S, is a plan view ot the same truck. is a modification. showing a double track instead otl a single track as illustrated in the other figures.

l have selected tor the illustrative embodiment of my inrcrtion, a truck including four or eight suppnrlmg wheels (two modifications beiug shown) equipped with an equalizcr fram@` and designed to receive or support one oi the legs ot a bridge. This truck, as illustratedis provided with a special mo-' tor drive, it being understood that one truck ggg 1,213,323

is to be employed for each leg of the bridge, the current being thrown simultaneously upon the motors of the various trucks, causing them to act in unison.

1 represents an equalizer framefor supf porting the leg of a bridge, the leg of the bridge being pivotally mounted upon thev equalizer frame 1 in a manner well known in the art and illustrated, for instance, in the patent to Monroe 1,023,582 of April 16, 1912, this frame being in turn supported upon "2 which are supported upon the axles .f propelling wheels hereinafter to be described. Suspended from the equal- E iter frame 1 by the steel suspension fra-me 3 (Fig. 1), is an electric motor li, provided with a small control brake, indicated by 5 the ant. The main shaft G of the motor carries 20 thereupon a pinion 7. Arranged adjacent to tne motor and extending longitudinally ofthe truck and firmly mounted in the bearings 3 rigidly secured to the motor casing, is the drive shaft 9, for convenience made in thin sections and connected by flange couplings his shaft is provided with a gear in 'uesh with the motor gear 7 described, the fear 10 being preferably ineased at 11. Upon .ither end of the shaft 9 are worms 12. These worms mesh with the worm wheels 13 upon shafts il and journaled transversely the carriages 2. lt is to be particularly noted that the worms engaged with the crm .'heels from. below. This makes it u provide a complete casing possible lor me to ifi-1&3, entirely inclosing the Worm and worm wheels firmly mounted upon the equalizer frame i and having bearings for i) upon either sido of the Worms 12. ng 15 and 16 is provided with plugs l? and 18 to permit the introduction of oil whereby the meshes of the Worms and worin wheels run continually in a bath of This would be impossible if the worms die-rl, with the worm wheels from above i of from below as above indicated made possible, in part at least, by sus ion of the motor. l ion die ends of shafts 14, opposite from the :ovm wheels, I provide gears 19, each l .i meshes with two gears 20, carried fo extended axles 2i of the supporting pro'ielling wheels 22, r-.fhich roll along in the "cation sho-wn, in Figs. 1, 2 and lf3 a sin '"aclt is employed upon which are mounted. the four propelling Wheels 22. li,

details of which are not herein import-v is of course obvious that the same arpension of the motor with respect to the drive shaft 9 makes a balanced arrangement whereby the torque upon the shaft Willv be. only half as great (because resisted in opposite directions at its two ends) as if the shaft were driven fromone end and the torque were therefore cumulative. This is an important feature of the invention, contribut ing simplicity and certainty tothe operation. It isalso to be noted that vowing to 5 the worm drive "overhauling7 of the driving machinery lis impossible, the Worm gear train being incapable of operation back from its-power delivery end and by any pressure which can occur in use. Y

1 am well aware that other modifications of the same idea might be employed. Thus for light bridges a single shaft centrally driven, might be supported from the sill of the bridge and by means of Worm gears drive separate wheels supporting different legs upon the same. track, it being by no means necessary in vall instances, to employ,

as above illustrated, a' special truck to support each leg. The special truck, however,

is particularly applicable for rsupporting heavy loads, inasmuch it greatly augments the distribution of weight over a concrete`- foundation. It'is also clear that a single line shaft might be employed to drive the various subordinate shafts 9 which drive the propelling wheels. I prefer, however, to

employ a separate motor in connection with each subordinate driving shaft, Whether this driving shaft be employed to drive the 190 wheels of one or more legs of the bridge.

I claim- 1. In a traveling conveying apparatus a frame, a plurality of supporting and propelling wheels mounted in said frame, worm wheels, Vgearing including meshing gears upon the opposite side of said frame from said worm wheels and connecting the same with said propelling wheels, a Worm shaft having Worms thereon for driving said worm wheels, a motor suspended from said frame and arranged to drive said worm shaft from a central point between said worms. v

2. In a traveling conveying apparatus a frame, having a plurality of supporting and propelling wheels mounted thereon, a plurality of worm wheels, a reduction gearing interposed between said worm lwheels and said propelling wheels for driving said pro'- 120 peiling wheels, a worm shaft below said worm wheels, a plurality of worms on said shaft, a motor attached to the frame for driving said worm shaft and arranged substantially centrally thereof. i

3. Inra traveling conveying apparatus, a bridge having legs, a truck to support one` of said legs and having a' drive shaft thereon, a worm on Aeither end* ofsaid shaft, a worm wheel engaged with each of said 130 Worms, a shaft on which each of said Worm ivheels is mounted, a-pinion on each of said last mentioned shafts and propelling wheels, directly driven by said pinions.

4.. In a traveling conveying apparatus, a bridge having legs, a truck to support one v of said legs and having a drive shaft thereon, a Worm on either end of said shaft, a Worm Wheel engaged With 'each of said Worms, said worms engaging said Worm Wheels from below, a shaft on which each of said worm Wheels is mounted, a pinion on each of said last mentioned shafts and pro-u pelling Wheels directly driven by said pin-w ions.

5. In a traveling conveying apparatus, a bridge having legs, a truck to support one of said legs and having a drive shaft thereon, a worm on either side of said shaft,'an independent motor applied to drive said drive shaft at a point between said Worms, a Worm Wheel engaged with each of said Worms, a

shaft on which each of said Worm Wheels is mounted, a pinion oneach of said last mentioned shafts and propelling Wheels directly driven by said pinions.

6. In a traveling conveying apparatus, a truck having supporting ,fand propelling Wheels thereon having yaxles extending through the truck, a motor suspended from said truck, a Worin `shaft arranged longitudinally of the truck, a plurality of Worm wheels. arranged above said Worm shafts driven thereby, shafts upon' which4 said Worm Wheels are mounted, intermeshing axles of the as described.

'gears on said shaftsand upon the extended propelling Wheels, substantially 7. In a traveling-conveying apparatus, a'

bridge having legs, a plurality of Wheeled trucks, one on each of a plurality of said legs adapted to support the same, a drive shaft mounted upon each truck parallel to the tread of the truck Wheels and having aworm gear at either end, a motor applied centrally to each of said shafts, idler worm Wheels driven by said Worms and adapted to drive the truck Wheels, substantially as described,

together with means whereby all of said motors may be stopped and started simultaneously.

In Witness whereof, I hereunto subscribe my name to this specification in the presence of tivo Witnesses.

CHARLES S. WILLIAMSON. Witnesses:

p SEBASTIAN I-IIN'roN, M. B. KINNUCAN.' 

